Pages

Figured we could make our own little mini-FAQ full of the answers we've recieved from Customer Service. I'll keep this updated about once a day if folks show interest. For inclusion, post your question and the book and page number so I can keep things organized please. Suggestions on formatting and organization are appreciated. For now, I'll be listing them by page number, then specific issue, then alphabetically by the rep who answered.

You make two primary attacks against target A that do 1[W] + Str to them.

If you meet the requirements for the secondary attack, you may also make the secondary attacks against target A or target B, which is the same damage as the primary attack. You can one secondary attack per primary attack, so a total of 4 attacks if you meet the requirements.

Q: Are the Healing Hands feat and Hospitaler level 16 powers redundant for your Lay on Hands ability or do they stack? I realize in 3rd there was a rule implimented later to prevent one stat from adding to the same roll more than once, but this is a new addition and the only way I can see in the PHB that powers don't stack is if they are the same bonus type, which these are both unnamed bonuses.

A: Hospitaler's Care and the Healing Hands feat do stack. One source is from a feat and the other is from a power.

Question 2: Is each additional Quarry subject to the extra damage each round? IE: does only one Quarry take the damage, which is one reading of the rules on page 104, or does each Quarry that you attack that round take the extra damage?

2. If you have multiple Quarries, and you hit multiple Quarries, you choose which one takes the extra damage.

Question 3: Page 104 states that you can designate the enemy nearest you as your Quarry (errata modifies that to "nearest enemy you can see". In order to designate additional Quarries per page 113, is it necessary to adjust position before doing so, so that the new Quarry is the nearest enemy target, or is it sufficient to designate quarries in order of proximity from the character?

3. This appears to be a minor over sight but order of proximity will cover it.

The warlord feature Inspiring Presence is a continous effect the heals an ally who can see the warlord when the ally spends an action point. What if the warlord in under a negative condition? For example, does Inspiring Presence function is the warlord is dead, unconcious, helpless, stunned, blinded, petrified, etc? What conditions, if any, prohibit a warlord's allies from benefiting from Inspiring Presence?

Note: Tactical Presence, by contrast, says that it functions for allies the warlord can see, which implies that it requires that the warlord is able to both be able to see (eg not blind) and be able to take free actions to direct the ally (eg not helpless).

Answer:
It would not function if the warlord were dead or invisible. Any other conditions would be up for your DM to decide.

a) Yes, these are all ranged powers so if you use one while adjacent to an enemy, you will provoke an opportunity attack.

I have already passed this along for possible updates.
For a more flavorful explanation of the situation, the Warlord is no just shouting, but is concentrating on a different area of the battlefield, perhaps pointing to an ally and commanding them to go do something. Then the monster standing next to the Warlord, which the Warlord is not currently paying attention to says, "Its not polite to point!" and attacks.

Q: Can I use the Wand of Accuracy implement mastery after I see my attack roll, or does it have to be declared before rolling?

A:. Most of the time powers that allow you to use the "additional value" to a roll calls out if you can use it after the roll. Wand of Accuracy ideally should be declared before you are using your attack. Your DM may rule otherwise, but everytime I have seen it used it was when you "really needed to land" a power such as an important daily or a big spell that needed to hit a lot of

Q1. Does Forced Movement count for damage?
A1. Forced Movement still counts as leaving squares so yes, it will trigger the extra damage.

Q2. Does Falling count for this ability?
A2. Falling is also going to cause lots of d10s for the distance the creature falls. However falling distance is counted in 10 foot increments, not in squares, so this is more hazy. Your DM will have to make a ruling until official word is given.

Q3. Does a Large or larger creature take multiple d6's because it is leaving multiple squares with each square of movement?
A3. Large creatures will not take extra damage. Only count one of the squares the base leaves when it moves.

Q:Does Dwarven Weapon Training effect static damage, such as that done to a secondary target by Cleave or that done on a miss by Reaping Strike?

A:Both Cleave and Reaping Strike call for damage based on the character's Strength Modifier. That means no additional damage added from other feats, racial benefits, spells, or powers. 4E reads very literally and when the book stays Strength modifier, it really means Strength modifier only!

Qa) Is multiclassing into Ranger paragon paths not allowed for some reason? If so, why?

Aa)It is allowed. Page 209 clearly states that the Warrior of the Wild feat means that the a mutliclassing character counts as a member of that class for the purpose of meeting the pre-reqs of that Paragon Class. I take this to mean that it automatically qualifies you for the Ranger Paragon Classes. Now I can submit this up to our specialists to make sure that this is 100% accurate.

However, as I read it that is how it is applied for 7 of the 8 classes and thus should be for the Ranger. If not, we'll be sure to get that into the errata!

Qb) Is it a typo, and the restrictions on battle styles should not be there at all?

Ab)The battle styles are written as intended. If there's a typo, see #1 and we'll get that ironed out by verifying with our specialists/dev that indeed they should or shouldn't be there.

Qc) At some point, the Ranger multiclass feat provided a combat style but when that was changed to only give Hunter's Quarry the paragon paths were not correctly updated?

Qc)Likely this was the case to be honest and why I'm going to have this checked. If I recall right in playtesting it did give you some benefits of the ranger combat styles. The benefits of the multiclassing may have been changed to Hunter's Mark and the rest was overlooked. However, we'll get it straightened out and if I get a direct answer I will go ahead and update you.

Q:A Rogue with a Magic Dagger or Shuriken using Blinding Barrage, Cloud of Steel, or Steel Entrapment. These powers seems tailor-made for the Shuriken, yet the rules seem to make it very hard to use thrown weaponry for them. Not only would you need up to 25 magic weapons, depending on number of targets, but aparently magic thrown weapons only return after ranged attacks, so you'll need to gather them all up by hand later. Is this intended?

A: For powers such as the ones you mention, you would need enough ammo to hit each viable target, i.e. up to 25 missiles for Steel Entrapment. If you have a magic thrown weapon you would like to use, you must designate which target will be hit by that weapon.

For a magic thrown weapon's returning ability, the rules do not cover their use in close attacks; your DM will have to adjudicate whether the weapon will come back or not after the power has resolved

a) Yes, these are all ranged powers so if you use one while adjacent to an enemy, you will provoke an opportunity attack.

I have already passed this along for possible updates.
For a more flavorful explanation of the situation, the Warlord is no just shouting, but is concentrating on a different area of the battlefield, perhaps pointing to an ally and commanding them to go do something. Then the monster standing next to the Warlord, which the Warlord is not currently paying attention to says, "Its not polite to point!" and attacks.

Question 1: Is it necessary to make an attack on the Quarry each round in order for it to take the extra damage, or does the damage occur regardless (like an Ongoing Damage effect)?

1. You must successfully hit the Quarry with an attack and choose to apply the extra damage from Hunter's Quarry.

Question 2: Is each additional Quarry subject to the extra damage each round? IE: does only one Quarry take the damage, which is one reading of the rules on page 104, or does each Quarry that you attack that round take the extra damage?

2. If you have multiple Quarries, and you hit multiple Quarries, you choose which one takes the extra damage.

Question 3: Page 104 states that you can designate the enemy nearest you as your Quarry (errata modifies that to "nearest enemy you can see". In order to designate additional Quarries per page 113, is it necessary to adjust position before doing so, so that the new Quarry is the nearest enemy target, or is it sufficient to designate quarries in order of proximity from the character?

3. This appears to be a minor over sight but order of proximity will cover it.

Q. Can I use the wand of Accuracy implement mastery after I see my attack roll or does it have to be declared before rolling?

A. Most of the time powers that allow you to use the "additional value" to a roll calls out if you can use it after the roll. Wand of Accuracy ideally should be declared before you are using your attack. Your DM may rule otherwise, but everytime I have seen it used it was when you "really needed to land" a power such as an important daily or a big spell that needed to hit a lot of enemies.

I believe that this has had an unintended impact on the Flaming Sphere spell. My reading of the current rules says it's now possible to move into the same square that the flaming sphere is in and stay there not taking damage while those adjacent do take damage.

So now the questions ...

Is my interpretation of what the rules are correct in this case?

Is the person in charge of the PHB Update aware of this issue?

Is there likely to be a change in this area in the near future?

Assuming I'm correct on what the rules say now, how would you recommend running handling things? Would you Have the sphere Block movement of enemies? Of Allies? Should it provide cover for allies? for enemies?

Joe Answered

Thanks for the great feedback! We’ve passed this along to the good folks that make the games and hopefully we’ll see some errata covering this situation soon. Until then, it is up to your Dungeon Master to determine how he/she wants to handle this particular situation in their campaign.

Information about Warlock's Curse and Hunter's Quarry here, from Charles:

Warlock's Curse and hunter's quarry both have ambiguous wording. They both initially say that I can deal extra damage to an enemy; they then go on to talk about multiple attacks in a round. They do not, however, explicitly say that you must attack to deal the extra damage.

1) Can Warlock's Curse and Hunter's Quarry trigger off of damage from a power's Miss condition?

2) Can Warlock's Curse and Hunter's Quarry trigger off damage from an Effect that doesn't require an attack roll?

3) Can Warlock's Curse and Hunter's Quarry trigger off a completely non-power based damage, such at the automatic damage from a Pact Blade?

1. Hunter's Quarry and Warlock Curses triggers off of damage. If the miss condition for a power still deals damage, the Hunter's Quarry/Curse damage bonus can apply to it.
2. Yes, for the same reason mentioned above.
3. Also yes.

From Tony, Wizards Customer Service, 06/16/2008 08:26 PM1. Does attacking (melee or ranged, using an at-will power) with a weapon with the Frost Weapon enchantment constitute "hitting with a power that has the cold keyword" for the purpose of the Lasting Frost feat? That is, will using an Frost Weapon enchanted sword with its at-will cold power enabled, trigger Lasting Frost if the player has the feat?2. Does the same apply to triggering Winter Touched?

1. The power will have to have the cold keyword, not the implement or weapon used to deliver the attack.

Taking most multiclassing feats gives you access to paragon paths for that class, but all the ranger paragon paths require taking a particular fighting style, which WotW does not give you access to. Is this intentional or will there be an errata for this?

This is intentional. Some paragon paths are indeed available to those that dabble in another class, however, some are so specialized that only someone who has dedicated their lives to a certain kind of training can reap their benefits.

Taking most multiclassing feats gives you access to paragon paths for that class, but all the ranger paragon paths require taking a particular fighting style, which WotW does not give you access to. Is this intentional or will there be an errata for this?

This is intentional. Some paragon paths are indeed available to those that dabble in another class, however, some are so specialized that only someone who has dedicated their lives to a certain kind of training can reap their benefits.

Do you have the time stamp and the person who gave the answer? I've seen previous answers where they thought there might be a chance it was in error and am curious if this is a newer response or just a different person.

I thought I understood the rules on this point but someone posted what is purported to be a customer service response (shown below) that seems to contradict the rules on pare 226.

The rules on page 226 say that you add the keywords of an item power to the keywords of the class power. I'm hoping for a better explanation of what this rule means if, in fact, this is an actual correct response and a frost weapon does not work with the lasting frost feat.

Thank you,

James
>From Tony, Wizards Customer Service, 06/16/2008 08:26 PM
1. Does attacking (melee or ranged, using an at-will power) with a weapon with the Frost Weapon enchantment constitute "hitting with a power that has the cold keyword" for the purpose of the Lasting Frost feat? That is, will using an Frost Weapon enchanted sword with its at-will cold power enabled, trigger Lasting Frost if the player has the feat?
2. Does the same apply to triggering Winter Touched?

*1. The power will have to have the cold keyword, not the implement or weapon used to deliver the attack.

2. Again, the power you are using will have to have the cold keyword.*

a) Yes, these are all ranged powers so if you use one while adjacent to an enemy, you will provoke an opportunity attack.

I have already passed this along for possible updates.
For a more flavorful explanation of the situation, the Warlord is no just shouting, but is concentrating on a different area of the battlefield, perhaps pointing to an ally and commanding them to go do something. Then the monster standing next to the Warlord, which the Warlord is not currently paying attention to says, "Its not polite to point!" and attacks.

q: If you score a critical hit on an attack you wish to apply sneak attack damage it are the sneak attack dice maximized?

a: Yes, there are. Sneak Attack, Hunter's Quarry, and Warlock's Curse are all maximized on a successful critical hit.

please tell joe to go look on page 278, in the PHB. Extra damage- Magic weapons and implements as well as high crit weapons, can increase the damage you deal when you score a critical hit. If this extra damage is a DIE ROLL, it is NOT automatically maximum damage; you add the result of the roll.

yea, i wonder if customer service is somewhere around the world, and not knowing what DND is

please tell joe to go look on page 278, in the PHB. Extra damage- Magic weapons and implements as well as high crit weapons, can increase the damage you deal when you score a critical hit. If this extra damage is a DIE ROLL, it is NOT automatically maximum damage; you add the result of the roll.

yea, i wonder if customer service is somewhere around the world, and not knowing what DND is

Right ... Extra damage that happens only on a crit isn't maximized. I don't understand why you want me to bug joe again.

Are the Healing Hands feat and Hospitaler level 16 powers redundant for your Lay on Hands ability or do they stack? I realize in 3rd there was a rule implimented later to prevent one stat from adding to the same roll more than once, but this is a new addition and the only way I can see in the PHB that powers don't stack is if they are the same bonus type, which these are both unnamed bonus'

---

Thank you for writing.

Hospitaler's Care and the Healing Hands feat do stack. One source is from a feat and the other is from a power.

please tell joe to go look on page 278, in the PHB. Extra damage- Magic weapons and implements as well as high crit weapons, can increase the damage you deal when you score a critical hit. If this extra damage is a DIE ROLL, it is NOT automatically maximum damage; you add the result of the roll.

*sigh*

Damage from Sneak Attack/Hunter's Quarry/Curse is NOT damage dealt as a result of a crit. It's part of the original attack damage.

Multiple CSRs have repeatedly confirmed this now. SA/HQ/Cu are maximized on a crit, along with the weapon damage dice. What is NOT maximized, are dice rolls you make BECAUSE you got a crit: that's enchanted weapon special damage, Devastating Critical, and so on.

P278: "Maximum Damage: Rather than roll damage, determine the maximum damage you can roll with your attack. This is your critical damage."

Ranger attacks their quarry with bow: damage = [1d10] + [Dex] + [Focus] + [1d6 HQ]. Total = 1d10 + 4 + 1 + 1d6.
On a crit, those values are maximized. None of this damage is contingent on the crit, it is part of the normal attack. So 10 + 4 + 1 + 6 = 21.

Now if that bow is a +1 Flaming Weapon, it will add +1 damage, and +1d6 critical damage. If the ranger has Devastating Critical, that's another 1d10. THOSE are the types of extra damage that are not maximized, because they only occur when you get a crit.

Damage from Sneak Attack/Hunter's Quarry/Curse is NOT damage dealt as a result of a crit. It's part of the original attack damage.

Multiple CSRs have repeatedly confirmed this now. SA/HQ/Cu are maximized on a crit, along with the weapon damage dice. What is NOT maximized, are dice rolls you make BECAUSE you got a crit: that's enchanted weapon special damage, Devastating Critical, and so on.

you are right. its EXTRA damage. i have to use a minor action to use hunters quarry and a warlocks curse. so if it wasn't there i wouldn't even roll a d6. its extra. no where in any of the warlocks powers or hunters powers say that i get an extra d6 damage just because. the effect has to be applied. its EXTRA damage.

"Extra" is not some meaningful keyword, it's simply damage added on top of what you normally would. And you don't use a minor action to apply it each round; only when you apply the curse or designate a quarry. The damage is part of the attack.

P278 is VERY SPECIFICALLY referring to damage that is added to critical hits only:

"Magic weapons and implements, as well as high crit weapons, can increase the damage you deal when you score a critical hit. If this extra damage is a die roll, it’s not automatically maximum damage; you add the result of the roll."

This paragraph has nothing to so with SA/HQ/Cu. Damage you dealt as a normal part of the attack is maximized.

1. On a critical hit, are the die rolls for Sneak Attack or Hunter's Quarry maximized as well?

Yes, both of those attack types are maximized. What is NOT maximized is the any damage that is assigned from a magical weapon on critical hits only. Those are listed with each weapon type and rolled each time a critical is landed. For instance if you take a look at Vicious Weapons it deals 1d12 per plus on a critical. A +4 vicious weapon deals max damage + random 4d12 roll.

Question 1:
The feat Dwarven Weapon Training in both the PHB and KotS says that you "gain a +2 feat bonus to damage rolls with axes and hammers." Does that damage bonus apply to the static damage done to the secondary adjacent creature hit by Cleave? And likewise does that damage bonus apply to the static damage done by a Miss effect with Reaping Strike?

It seems like the feat should affect both powers, but technically I'm not sure if those static damages count as "damage rolls" for purpose of the feat.

Note that this question applies to both the PHB and KotS, since the sample dwarf fighter in KotS has the feat and both Cleave and Reaping Strike.

Answer:
You asked the following question:

1. Does that damage bonus apply to the static damage done to the secondary adjacent creature hit by Cleave?

The power reads "Strength bonus". That means no additional damage added from other feats, racial benefits, spells, or powers.

For example, a Dwarf fighter with an 18 strength hits with his Axe and does 1[W] + 6 and the adjacent opponent takes 4 damage for his strength modifier.

2. And likewise does that damage bonus apply to the static damage done by a Miss effect with Reaping Strike?

Same as above. The book indicates your Strength modifier and that is what is added.

4E reads very literally and when the book stays Strength modifier, it really means Strength modifier only!

Good luck with the games and let us know if you have any additional questions.

John K.
Customer Service Representative
Wizards of the Coast

----

You can spend your own healing surges while unconcious and stable during a short rest

Question 3:
The warlord feature Inspiring Presence is a continous effect the heals an ally who can see the warlord when the ally spends an action point. What if the warlord in under a negative condition? For example, does Inspiring Presence function is the warlord is dead, unconcious, helpless, stunned, blinded, petrified, etc? What conditions, if any, prohibit a warlord's allies from benefiting from Inspiring Presence?

Note: Tactical Presence, by contrast, says that it functions for allies the warlord can see, which implies that it requires that the warlord is able to both be able to see (eg not blind) and be able to take free actions to direct the ally (eg not helpless).

Answer:
It would not function if the warlord were dead or invisible. Any other conditions would be up for your DM to decide.

This answer is "by the book" and doesn't offer a lot of insight, leaving it up to the DM.

Rangers can use two weapons in combat, and many rogues may also wish to take the Two Weapon Fighting feat for the benefit it offers. Does drawing two weapons, one in each hand, count as one Minor Action, or two? Likewise, does sheathing two weapons take one minor action or two? If two, this would appear to mean that switching from dual-wielding to a bow/crossbow or vice-versa is a full-turn action (3 minor actions), correct?

Finally, the Quick Draw feat would appear to allow pulling two weapons out simultaneously, if they are used for the attack power. Would a rogue with Two Weapon Fighting be able to do the same in order to enjoy the benefit of having a weapon in each hand, even if they are using an attack power that makes use of only one weapon?

From Evan T., Wizard's Customer Service, 06/18/2008According to the rules, you can draw 'a weapon' as a minor action. There are not specific rules for drawing two weapons, so this would be up to your DM to make the call. Likewise, for quick draw, you can draw both weapons if they are both being used as part of an attack. If you are only using one weapon as part of the attack, it would once again be up to your DM to make a call on this ruling.

I'm currently having an exchange with Paul at customer service about Rain of Blows. He thinks it only grants two attacks. I'm glad to see somebody else at custserv disagreed, because the argument for two attacks makes no rules sense to me.

Of course, I've also seen custserv responses indicating that there's such a thing as +6 non-masterwork armor. So who knows.

Question:
Can you make an unarmed melee basic attack on an adjacent opponent by kicking or elbowing if you are currently holding a ranged weapon or implement that can't be used as a melee weapon? For example, if you are an archer with a bow or a wizard with a wand standing adjacent to an opponent, and the opponent provokes an opportunity action, can you do an unarmed melee basic attack on the provoking opponent by kicking or elbowing them?

Answer:
Please review the Improvised Weapon section of the equipment list (top of page 219). Since a bows and implements only require one hand to hold, you can make a basic melee attack with your fist (Unarmed) if someone provokes an attack of opportunity from you. Remember that some implements, such as Staffs also count as Quarterstaffs when making melee attacks.

This is a two-part question, with the second question dependent on the answer to the first.

(A) Page 55 of the PHB strongly suggests that a spell which does damage of a given type also gains the keyword of that type. To whit: "For instance, a power that deals acid damage is an acid effect and thus has the acid keyword." Literally, if it deals acid damage then it gains the acid keyword. Is this a correct reading of this passage, and is the implication general (if a power deals x damage type, it gains the x keyword)?

(B) If A is not true, does that mean that a power which doesn't have the x keyword but deals x type damage isn't subject to vulnerability or immunity, as per the next paragraph: "Keywords help to determine how, or if, a power works when the target has resistance, vulnerability, or immunity to a damage type or an effect..."? This line of thought is continued in the subsequent paragraph, and strongly implies that resistance/immunity/et al. only look at the keywords to determine their effectiveness. So, hypothetically, if a power deals acid damage but does not have the Acid keyword, a creature who is immune to Acid still takes full damage from the power?

Thank you for writing. That is true. If you look at the first level daily power of acid arrow, Acid is a keyword listed in the text.

(emphasis added. Do note he's responding to A because B is conditional on A being false)

This contradicts the response stardock received above.

I was also involved in a lengthy discussion with CustServe on the workings of bolstering blood. The ultimate consensus was that it currently works as written (ie, every time a spell deals damage you add the bolstering blood damage), but that was not the intention and there will be errata. See here.

Besides, it doesn't matter really if it's legit or not...apparently if you don't like the answer to a question you can just resubmit it and chances are you'll get a completely different answer. :P

I honestly hadn't noticed this thread. I was just getting tired about all the debate about keywords when I thought the PHB was being blatant about how they were supposed to work on page 55. So I asked and they said I was right. Then someone pointed me at this thread...

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you ask Tony how page 55 is supposed to be interpreted in the context of his answer to your question? I want to know how he manages to arrive at such a startlingly different conclusion, hopefully with reasoning based somewhere on the rules.

I honestly hadn't noticed this thread. I was just getting tired about all the debate about keywords when I thought the PHB was being blatant about how they were supposed to work on page 55. So I asked and they said I was right. Then someone pointed me at this thread...

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you ask Tony how page 55 is supposed to be interpreted in the context of his answer to your question?

I wasn't suggesting that you resubmitted it because you didn't like the answer

I was just noticing that it tends to be happening. See the lasting frost + wintertouched thread in CO for another example. Also, I did include the reference to page 55 in the email to Tony. I really wish they would do a little explaining instead of just a flat "yes that works" or "no that doesn't work."

I submitted a new question on this. I quoted both of the questions and answers in this thread in their entirity. I mentioned the Dragon Article as the relevant example. I pointer out the potential difference on how resistance and vulnerability work on page 55 and page 278 ... I tried to be very complete. There's no need to flood custserv with the same question ... I'll post as soon as I get the response.

EDIT: Personally the thing that really bugs me about squirrelloid's question is that in quoting acid arrow in the answer it call into doubt whether paul understood what he was asking.